Description: This background paper uses very recent data to address that question for individuals just one year out of high school. The paper also presents data on the types of occupations that these young people engage in, and rough statistical correlations between those occupations and types of high-school-level vocational coursework.

Description: This background paper also responds to the request of the Congressional Sunbelt Caucus that OTA examine and judge the available evidence on whether Medicaid and Medicare patients, particularly obstetrics patients, are more litigious than other patients.

Description: This report discusses the study that has been proposed as a partial response to the mandate of Public Law 99-272; that law also requires approval from the Director of OTA before any such studies are undertaken, which is the reason for this review. This study is one of three that make up the full VA response to the mandate to look into the health of women Vietnam veterans.

Description: This staff paper examines the implications for cost and quality, as well as for access to mammography, of expanding the supply of mammographic services in the primary care setting. The special issues raised by third-party businesses that package mammography services for primary care physicians are also discussed.

Description: This paper discusses briefly (1) the purposes of research directed toward support of the defense science and technology base and (2) criteria for judging government-supported, military oriented research portfolios. It will not cover, except tangentially, research into science and technology directed to civilian uses or the more advanced development phase of military weapons and systems.

Description: A report on royalty, rental, and bonus payments from non-fuel mineral leases on public lands are a oil and gas and other fuel and major source of income for the Federal government, States, and Indian Tribes.

Description: This background paper reviews the status of the major sectors of the maritime industry engaged in EEZ activities and notes the significant trends. Basic data on the major sectors were first prepared for OTA by the Maritime Administration. OTA then conducted a survey of industry and other interested parties and prepared the analyses in the paper.

Description: This Background Paper contains the results of OTA’s analysis. Throughout the study OTA sought and received the assistance of many individuals and organizations in the business, education, and government communities. Their thoughtful contributions and criticisms were invaluable, although their participation does not necessarily reflect their endorsement of the contents of the report, for which OTA bears sole responsibility.

Description: This background paper focuses on the end point of educational preparation for science and engineering careers — undergraduate and graduate study. It places the issue of future supply in the broad cultural context of changing demographics, labor market adjustments, and intervention policies.

Description: This background paper describes and examines a launch vehicle concept commonly known as the “Big Dumb Booster,” a concept that derives from efforts first made in the 1960s to minimize costs of space launch systems. Some launch system analysts believe that the use of this concept, when applied to existing technology, could markedly reduce space transportation costs. Other analysts disagree.

Description: This report addresses five key questions; to what extent is superfund dependent on contractors? Why depend on contracting to such a great extent? Is the extent of superfund’s dependence on contracting appropriate? Does the extent of superfund’s dependence on contracting reduce environmental effectiveness? Is superfund’s heavy dependence on contracting cost effective?

Description: This evaluation of management options for greater-than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste was undertaken at the request of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Committee asked that OTA evaluate existing Federal and non-Federal options for GTCC waste storage and disposal. From its analysis, OTA was to develop an integrated management approach to protect public health and safety in the short- and long term.

Description: This background paper was requested by the House Government Operations Committee and its Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources. In it, OTA describes policies issued by Federal agencies concerning the identification, assessment, and regulation of carcinogenic chemicals; the chemicals that have been regulated because of carcinogenic risk; the Federal Government’s carcinogenicity testing program; and the results of OTA’s analysis of the extent of agency action on chemicals determined to be carcinogenic.

Description: This background paper describes and assesses the role of technology in underwater archaeology and historic maritime preservation. As several underwater projects have recently demonstrated, advanced technology, often developed for other uses, plays an increasingly important role in the discovery and recovery of historic shipwrecks and their contents.

Description: This report suggests that Congress need not wait for the completion of the current governmental negotiations in order to begin an examination of the legal issues resulting from space station development and operation. In the near term, Congress could: 1) begin to identify those Federal and State laws which already apply to space station activities and those that Congress believes should apply; 2) begin to resolve questions of power sharing between Federal and State laws and Federal and State courts as they relate to space station activities; and 3) monitor the space station negotiations to ensure that the final space station agreements protect the fundamental rights and interests of U.S. citizens and support U.S. policies, including those related to commercial activities in space.

Description: This OTA background paper discusses the prevalence of hearing impairment and its impact on elderly people; hearing devices and services that may benefit them; and problems in the service delivery system that limit access to these devices and services.

Description: This background paper was requested by the House Committee on Science and Technology. Within the past 2 years, there has been a notable expansion in the Federal supercomputer programs and this increase prompted the committee’s request for a review of issues of resource management, networking, and the role of supercomputers in basic research.

Description: This report examines the technological and institutional aspects of biological data relevant to maintaining biological diversity in the United States focusing primarily on Federal data collection efforts.

Description: This report discusses state educational testing practices. Testing as an indicator of educational attainment is a characteristic of the American educational system. While there are many questions surrounding the use of tests for various purposes, when American public policy turns periodically to focus on public education, tests tend to increase.